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A good friend of mine is incredibly clever and has created a decent piece of software, mp3TrueEdit. It’s basically an easy-to-use application so that you can create your own ringtones and audio greetings.
The website’s over here, and right now there’s a free trial so you can see if you’d like to buy it – can’t say fairer than that.
This book pretty much does what it says on the tin. It beings by defining exactly what the church is (a very useful task), before laying out each aspect of this definition as ‘timeless truths’. The book then moves into the ‘timely methods’ half, attempting to apply the model of the church to today’s world in a way which is relevant and appealing.
Overall I really enjoyed this book – it’s informative, challenging, and communicates its message well. But I do have one minor issue which I’d highlight. Driscoll tends to speak with a weighty, compelling authority on whatever he is speaking about, whether or not he should be the authority on that area or not. At times this means that his opinions and perceptions are presented as fact, for example when writing about the multicampus church model. It’s very interesting to hear how Mars Hill Church does it, but you could read it and think that if you disagreed you were committing a sin, which I don’t think is the intention.
The narration is clear and appropriately passionate – there are a couple of occasions where I could hear that Driscoll would have phrased something slightly differently, but I don’t think it takes anything away from the audiobook at all.
My favourite chapter was around the church’s missional role, but it’s all good stuff to be honest. I’d recommend it to every leader in every church – it will challenge and provoke, and at least make you ask questions about why you do and believe certain things.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
This book has been designed to address situations that happen too often in local churches. Maybe the church leader is a bit of an authoritarian. Perhaps a church member thinks he should have more authority than he currently does. Perhaps the church leader is taking the church in the wrong direction. Gene Edwards takes the biblical accounts of Saul, David and Absalom to see how we should react.
The book is written in a dramatic way, which really draws the reader in. It’s not a detailed exposition of Scripture but some quite detailed Bible knowledge is required to understand what’s going on. The language is fluid, dynamic, and personal. It jumps from storytelling to dialogue to direct engagement with the reader. I loved the style.
In terms of content I don’t think I’ve ever read a book quite like it. Edwards is unashamed to directly address local church issues; if you are in a church and your senior pastor is doing things you disapprove of, how should you react? What if he starts to personally attack you? And what if you are the leader and you have someone in your congregation who is looking to split the church? Gene Edwards is not scared to tackle real issues, and he’s not scared to radically pursue biblical standards.
Audio is a great medium for this book. The narrator is perfect for it, and the style of the book lends itself very well to an audio version.
I’d recommend this book to every church leader, and anyone who’s a Christian and involved in leadership to any extent. This book is excellent and will highlight areas for improvement in your character, together with appropriate responses.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
Randy Alcorn offers a 90-day devotional study of what the Bible says about God’s goodness. Each day’s entry is 5-10 minutes long, opens with a Bible passage and closes with a prayer.
Alcorn seems to be acutely aware of what God’s goodness really looks like. The little stories used throughout show that God still shows His goodness through even the toughest times. Each day is different and highlights a different aspect of God’s goodness.
Randy Alcorn’s a great communicator and does not shy away from some really tough subjects in this. No doubt if you have ever faced a hard time, or indeed if your life at times is nothing but hard times, this book will encourage you and draw your eyes to the loving, all-powerful God.
The narration is good but I’m not convinced the audio format’s the best for this because of the additional paraphanalia you need for the sake of five minutes, but if that’s what you’re looking for I’d recommend this pretty much unconditionally.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
This book is essentially a plea from the author that we would fundamentally get to know, and be, our true selves found in Jesus Christ. Looking at various examples in the life of King David, Mark Batterson explains how God has designed each of us uniquely, which is a place of great privilege, yet great responsibility.
Listening to the opening chapters and blurb about this book I thought for a moment that this book was going to tell me to ‘be the best I could be’ by following another self-help book, but this is not that kind of book! Batterson’s idea is that each of us has a unique ‘soulprint’ in the same way that we have a unique fingerprint, and that we will experience fullness of life when we embrace that soulprint for what it is.
David’s life gives a great biblical example of a man who God used for a unique purpose regardless of what the world thought of him. I think Batterson does a great job of explaining occasions in David’s life using contemporary examples, and he really communicates the extent to which God loves to think about and plan for us, while at the same time underlining the phenomenal responsibility which comes with that.
The book is filled with personal stories from Mark’s life which really added a good depth to it, and it made it even more special that the audiobook was narrated by him – his voice isn’t the most natural narrator but for his own book it doesn’t make much difference, he’s easy to listen to and it’s always nice to hear the author’s own work.
I can’t imagine any Christian not being impacted by this book so I’m happy to give this a blank recommendation to you if you’re a Christian, I’m sure you’d enjoy, and be encouraged and challenged by it.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
This book is a modernised compilation of the works of three Puritans, Andrew Gray, Edward Leigh, and William Spurstowe, all looking at the promises of God, and how to then live life in light of them.
Firstly, let’s just point out that when I say that this is a ‘modernised’ compilation, that doesn’t mean that the content has been ‘dumbed down’. The Puritans often wrote phenomenally heavy, content-rich works, and this is an attempt to communicate that same level of truth but for a modern-day audience. This is still one of those books where every word of every sentence has justified its existence, and that means that in reading it it’s likely you’re being bombarded with challenging truths.
I’m not convinced, therefore, that audio is the best format for this book. On several occasions I heard a sentence and had to skip back to actually listen to it! At some points it felt like every sentence had a new challenge in it, and I would have probably preferred to have this written down instead so I could have paused, and meditated on a particular biblical idea.
That said, this is still an outstanding book. Every chapter looks at a different aspect of God’s promises (such as God’s promises in prayer, in suffering, in temptation), and each time I found myself drawn to seeing things in a new light. It’s worth setting some time aside to focus on the book, because the writing style is hardly one for casual reading, but I’d recommend this in a flash to anyone, Christian or non.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
There are some books which are just so filled with grace that they remind you how it felt to have just been born again: this is one of those books. By looking at ten of God’s promises, Sheila Walsh digs deep into the overwhelming love and protection that God has for us.
Walsh picks apart every point, addressing every question that might come up. The book is not massively intellectual and is one of those books that you can simply listen to while doing something else. I particularly admired the way she references the original Greek text to pull out meanings that are not instantly apparent in the English Bible text, without making you feel uneducated. Perhaps on one or two occasions I wasn’t sure this added much, but on the whole I’d encourage this to Christians, especially ladies and especially those who have experienced tough times.
Each point is thoroughly Bible-based, and makes great use of stories – at times I felt myself wanting to both laugh and cry, and it’s not often that you find a book like that. What’s particularly good about this audio version is that it’s narrated by Sheila Walsh herself – if you can get past the American/Scottish accent, this really adds that personal, genuine touch.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this before, but even if I have it’s probably worth a second go.
On my review site I have the opportunity to review audiobooks every so often, which are provided by christianaudio.com.
Every month, christianaudio.com offers a free Christian audiobook for download, and they’re often very, very good. This month the free book is John Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life, a book which has affected me and many other Christians – if you haven’t yet downloaded it get onto that website and get that free book!
If you fancy reviewing books for them, they give you even more free books, around two per month! That’s a lot of free books, and the vast majority of them is excellent. If you think reviewing audiobooks for free would interest you, click over to their reviewers programme.
And if you think you’d be interested in getting audiobooks regularly, why not join them in a subscription? Currently if you sign up you get for free:
Special note for international customers:
I know this is basically a big advert, but I don’t mind. I think christianaudio.com do a really good job, and I’d rather they stay in business so hope this helps them out in some way.
This book presents a picture to the present-day church in America of the next generation of Christians which is emerging in post-modern culture. It’s clearly intended for the American market but any westerner could easily apply the main concepts. Lyons looks at the perception non-Christians have of Christians, and presents strategies which are currently emerging, suggesting that we’re in a time of significant change in the church along the lines of the reformation.
The main ideas presented in this book are excellent. The challenges not to be judgmental, to actively seek to see people saved and added to the kingdom, to engage with culture without succumbing to temptation and to resist withdrawing into a ‘holy huddle’ are all good ones. That said, I had a bit of difficulty relating to some of Lyons’ suggestions and examples. So I’m not sure that it was the best idea to use Muslims and Mormons as good examples of living counter-culturally to win unbelievers into the kingdom, because firstly those practices aren’t that attractive, and secondly I fundamentally disagree with their beliefs – I’m sure Gabe Lyons does too, but I think these and others could have been a little more developed.
Gabe’s picture of the next Christians being Restorers of society is a timely challenge to the western church, and he does a good job of painting a realistic yet motivational picture of what the next Christians can, and should, look like.
The audio version I listened to was narrated by the author – he speaks clearly and communicates his ideas well, so it’s a good buy.
On the whole I’d recommend this to most Christians and all Christian leaders. If we’re going to engage with the post-modern culture, and we must, then it’s books like this which will help.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com as part of their reviewers programme. I’m not required to give a positive review.
This short book addresses five key Bible passages, meditating on the most scandalous aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Don Carson’s writing is clear, easy-to-understand and easy-to-follow, and fundamentally biblical. The themes he picks up are controversial because they are so orthodox, but there’s nothing old-fashioned or boring here.
There’s probably relatively little in here which will be brand new to the more spiritually mature Christian, but there’s certainly not nothing, and the depth to which Carson goes is outstanding.
For that reason I’d recommend this book to absolutely any Christian out there. If you’ve never collapsed in awe of God’s mercy and power displayed on the cross, this book would be as good a place to start as any.
The audio version I listened to was enjoyable and clear. Thoroughly recommended.
I got this audiobook for free from christianaudio.com. I’m not required to give a positive review.
